Sunday, January 11, 2009

On January 7 "Gunny" Bob Newman, host of The Gunny Bob Show on Colorado's KOA-AM Radio, used his Clear Channel-owned media platform to make false and defamatory comments about gay service members. Newman suggested that lifting "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the ban on allowing qualified gay military personnel to serve openly in the armed forces, would lead to greater HIV risk.

On the program Mr. Newman said:

"Interesting, though, how Barack Obama, who strictly avoided military service, has – says that the key test must be those things. He left a lot of stuff out. Like being able to fight with as much combat power as you possibly can. And if we have gays serving openly in the military, according to the military, that is going to reduce their combat power. You reduce combat power, casualties can go up.

We had a doctor call in the last hour, a military doctor, been in a long time, and he explained the dangers of HIV-AIDS on the battlefield. Especially when it comes to combat transfusions at the battalion aid station or where have you, in the back of a Hummer ambulance, wherever. And I added there's also the danger of contamination when it comes to all the first responders on scene.

Often times that's gonna be a medic or a corpsman. Or just another soldier – doesn't have to be a medic or a corpsman or a Marine or what have you – who faces the additional risk of HIV-AIDS contamination. And the doctor also went on to explain, you know, how these transfusions are sought and how quickly they must happen. And he pointed out that if we do this, and more and more gays join the military and they are HIV-positive or suffering from AIDS, and their blood ends up getting transfused, you know, into another military person, well, then that's a death sentence for the other person too. 303-713-8585.

This doesn't bother Barack Obama. It doesn't faze him in the least. He doesn't care if a soldier or a Marine or a SEAL or what have you gets HIV, becomes HIV-positive, and then develops AIDS and dies because he happened to get a transfusion from an, say, an openly gay person with a very active sexual, open lifestyle.

Because to Obama, what's most important is two things, being politically correct – excuse me, three things: being politically correct; functioning as a good leftist; and number three, paying back the gay and lesbian lobby, which donated such staggering sums of money to his campaign. He owes them a lot of money."

GLAAD is asking us to contact Clear Channel-owned KOA-AM executives in Denver, Colorado and Clear Channel Communications national executives in San Antonio, Texas to demand that they reprimand "Gunny" Bob Newman for his inappropriate and offensive remarks. Call on them to stop allowing their platforms to be used to perpetuate false and defamatory stereotypes about the LGBT community.

Hospitals and clinics should take precautions to prevent the spread of blood-borne infections. These measures include using sterile surgical instruments, wearing gloves, and safely disposing of medical waste. In developed countries, HIV transmission in health-care settings is extremely rare. However, cases continue to occur in less-resourced areas where safety procedures are not so well implemented.

Health-care workers have on rare occasions become infected with HIV by being stuck with needles containing HIV-infected blood. A few have also become infected by HIV-infected blood getting into the bloodstream through an open cut, or splashing onto a mucous membrane (e.g. the eyes or the inside of the nose).

Does he not know that there is a medical exam before one can enter the military? While I suppose there is a small chance that someone exposed to the virus recently may not test positive, anyone with HIV or AIDS would indeed be screened out by the physical entry exam.

Gunny was way out of line with these comments. It has been proven by the CDC that it is not only the Gay community, but also the straight community that will pass on the HIV/AIDS virus and some of them do not even know that they have it. Gunny needs to reprimad and not only made to apologize to the listening audience, to all of the families that have had family members to died from this ugly disease.

MSM [men who have sex with men] accounted for 71% of all HIV infections among male adults and adolescents in 2005 (based on data from 33 states with long-term, confidential name-based HIV reporting), even though only about 5% to 7% of male adults and adolescents in the United States identify themselves as MSM

I have the misfortune of living in KOA's market (think Faux news). In the beginning Gunny Bob shared the mic with a liberal co-host but KOA soon axed all the liberals at the station and gave Gunny Bob free reign. He is one of those people who has his mind made up and isn't willing to truly hear opposing viewpoints, and he says something offensive pretty much every day. It's truly unfortunate that KOA even has an audience.

Take a look at the back of a can of institutional Lysol? Have you given blood lately, seen the questionnaire... Insanity. I would sue the government if I got HIV from a combat situation just because the military had to be politically correct. People of that persuasion should either be tested and pass, prior to any combat operation, or work in the rear (no pun intended).

You will of course never see gays suing Lysol, or the local blood bank. What would be next, forcing us strait people to take the blood or die.